McBride Charles Ryan – Klein Bottle House

Located in the Mornington Peninsula, Australia, this weekend house is the mathematical concept of the Klein Bottle (a surface in which notions of left and right cannot be consistently defined). The ‘contents’ of the ‘bottle’ are a rectilinear platform and walls which make the abstract geometry inhabitable.

The spiral configuration of the house comes as a response to the difficult topography ( a heavily ti-treed sand hills adjacent the ocean beach in Rye). The spiral passing through the house explores a new series of relationships and sequential spatial experience. A dramatic stair winds around an internal courtyard picking up the bedrooms of the house as it ascends, the journey ending in the great living room.

Externally the building is predominantly clad in cement sheeting, simultaneously recalling both folded origami, tents and the ubiquitous ‘fibro-shack’. The building is supported on a traditional timber stud frame – pushed to its physical limit. (via McBride Charles Ryan)